Rubbing Off
by MarshmellowDragon
Summary: When it comes to Hikari Netto and Rockman, Enzan likes to believe that he is a realist. Of course, being and believing are two different things. Axess 34 oneshot thing.


_Necklace of Raindrops is rubbing off on me; which is why this is short. Ah well :P who knows, if she rubs off on me more, these might actually become worth a read or two XD_

_Has anybody else noticed that I can only write __**about**__ Netto, and not from his POV?_

* * *

"_One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise"_

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

* * *

"Rockman! Rockman, can you hear me? Answer!" Enzan frowned and hid his face from the scene. He was not a coward for shying away from the sight. He was only respecting Netto's privacy. A voice in the back of his head vaguely mentioned that if the positions had been reversed and he had been on the ground screaming, Netto would have been hovering in a moment. 

Then again, he really wasn't one to scream. There was a beep on his –_empty_- PET, announcing the fact that a medical team was on their way. With the way Misaki looked…they'd probably need it. For the moment, Enzan chose to ignore the fact that Netto probably needed it more. Whatever the case, with a quick glance the dual haired boy had made sure that the other net savor was still conscious before he turned in Misaki's direction.

Although, there was still a distraction before he made his way to the fallen man; Namely, the purple pieces of plastic and wires on the ground, sparking slightly. Netto was lucky he supposed. His PET could have ended up like Misaki's. And then where would Rockman be? Deleted, like Prisman. The only difference being that Misaki probably had backup files somewhere. He knew for a fact that Netto had no such thing for Rockman.

He'd asked why once. He had copies of Blues's files. Why didn't Netto have copies of Rockman's? He'd gotten a very odd look after that one, not quite a glare -he wasn't even sure if Netto _could_ glare-, but it hadn't quite been mirth either. The closest thing he could come up with was -it sounded rather odd actually- disapointment. The gaze had lingered for a moment more, and for that moment, Enzan felt as though he'd said something incredibly rude, although he couldn't imagine what. Finally, Netto had spoken.

_"If something happened to Rock...I don't know what I'd do"_

Enzan had wanted to point out that was the reason to have backups. All upper league NetOps did, he'd wanted to mention.

_"If something happens to him, it's my fault. I don't want to be able to blow off something like that. He's data, but he's my friend. And I don't want him to be copied over and over again just because I screwed up."_

Screwing up was a part of the learning process. Well, it was for everybody who wasn't Enzan. But Netto was Netto, and Netto could screw up. He should have known that, that would have been something to mull over. Enzan had opened his mouth to say something along those lines and...

_"I'm not going to let anything happen to him, ever. So I don't need backups"_

Enzan had gotten home that day, sent Blues on some trivial chore, and promptly deleted all his backups except for those required by law for him to have.

Later he'd say that Netto had been hanging around him too much lately and that his stupidity was just rubbing off on him. He'd defended that he'd recreate the backups when he had the time. Funnily enough, he never did. Netto hadn't mentioned it, but every time a battle was won from that time on, he always seemed to see -imagine probably, far too much caffeine in his diet-, that the boy was smirking, prooving that Rockman was absolutely _fine_.

Nonetheless, it still wasn't a calming thought as Enzan shifted over to Misaki. Netto had no backups of Rockman to recover data from. He was moderately sure that Hikari-hakase had most functions saved, although that wasn't enough to calm him down. How would they fight now? Granted, there were other net savors. Just…it didn't seem right. He and Netto had been at the front of this investigation from the beginning. He'd stayed on –actually, he had been _allowed_ to stay on- because of his position in IPC. He was needed for software consulting. There was a job for him.

Netto was in fifth grade. He was in _elementary_ school for good sakes…If Rockman couldn't be repaired, Netto could not crossfuse. Netto could not battle. And as cruel as it sounded, there would be no place for him. As he turned the taller man over, he vaguely tried to grasp the notion of Netto being _normal_. He tried, really it did, but it slipped through his fingers like sand through a sift.

Would it make any difference? Would Netto still accompany his father to the science labs, therefore seeing Enzan in the process? Would Hikari continue to hang on him like a monkey, continue to drag him away from paperwork, continue to annoy him until all his hair turned white? Or would the brunette fade to obscurity, forgotten under piles of paperwork for IPC and software planning for the Net savors. Would he pass the brunette in his limo one day, just to wonder how the boy had ever been considered special by anyone? The thought was an odd one, if he did say so himself. Perhaps there had been too much sugar in his coffee that morning? No…couldn't be. He didn't _put_ any sugar in his coffee.

"Get up Netto" He'd already slung Misaki over his shoulders, pointedly ignoring the difference in height. He'd get taller eventually. Heedless of his order, Netto remained on the ground, slumped over the piece of plastic once known as Rockman's PET.

"Hikari. Up. Now" he didn't have the patience for this drama. The same voice as earlier told him that he should have had more sympathy; he knew how it felt after all. What was he being so brash for?

Because, he argued back within himself, Netto needed to face the facts. He needed to face reality. They had screwed up. His arm had been too short –_pushing in the dark chip, it'd actually felt so long_-, his dodging had been too slow –_what would have happened if Blues had evaded those attacks?_-. Rockman was probably gone for good –Blues was gone for sure-. Rockman was deleted –_Blues was dead to him now_-. End of story.

"Come on, I can hear the cars" the sirens were faintly becoming less and less distant, he was pretty sure he could see one. Still nothing. Geeze, at least he had continued standing afterwards. Here Netto was acting like it was the end of the world. He needed to get with the program. Life would not cease to exist just because of the absence of one navi.

It was too _idealistic_ a thought to even consider having Rockman return without backups.

"Don't make me put Misaki down" finally fed up with the whole ordeal, Enzan used his foot to flip the other boy onto his back. What he saw made him groan. _Of course_ Netto had passed out. Of _course_. Hah. Netto, moping? It couldn't have been true. No wonder he'd been so quiet. It was probably just the blood…loss…

Stupid Netto.

And so, as Enzan would later muse upon during the rather long ambulance ride to the hospital, it was not proper to truly believe that Netto would ever mope about Rockman; Or at least, not in a situation such as this. He had probably already convinced himself that his navi would be fine. He was probably dreaming about kicking Darkloid butt. He would probably be full of an insufferable amount of energy until he was able to Netbattle again. He would probably jabber on and on and on and on about something other that he found mildly amusing, which he would pass onto Rockman once the navi was back in his care. Enzan made a mental note to avoid Netto's room until he was calmer. Otherwise Netto might rub off on him.

And he couldn't have that, because then he might start to believe that Blues would come back as well.

-Fin-


End file.
